The use of known video cameras for surveillance is widespread. Such known video cameras may transmit analog and/or digital video signals to a monitoring station or video recording device via dedicated cables running between the known video cameras and the monitoring station or video recording device. Methods of installing and testing known video cameras are well known and are practiced by a large number of installers. These installers are typically adept at running cables, physically connecting the cables to video cameras and other equipment, adjusting camera settings, and verifying proper operation of the known video cameras.
Recently, the use of video cameras that transmit packets containing bits representing a portion of a video signal has become popular. These video cameras may be connected to data networks, such as Ethernet and/or Internet Protocol (IP) data networks, and may be referred to as IP video cameras or IP cameras. In some cases, such networks may use a shared infrastructure to relay data packets generated by many different IP video cameras.
Those who install and test such IP video cameras may use a set of skills that is different from the set of skills used to install and test known video cameras. For example, installing and testing IP video cameras may involve understanding how data networks operate including the addressing of nodes of the data network. In many cases, those who install known video cameras do not have the skill set used for installing and testing IP video cameras.